AI Skills: Why You Can’t Afford to Wait

By this point, we’re all aware that artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming the workplace. Whether you’re an early adopter or still hesitant to dive in, our AI expert, Lawrence Green, believes that businesses, individuals, and the public sector alike can’t afford to wait.

We sat down with Lawrence to understand why AI skills are something worth investing in, and what learners can expect to takeaway from his two new courses—Leading with AI and Working Smarter with AI.

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1. Why is it crucial for professionals to develop AI skills now rather than later?

Professionals who begin developing AI skills sooner face a less steep learning curve, establishing a foundation that makes adapting to future advancements significantly easier. This early engagement unlocks the potential for discovering innovative solutions to existing challenges, creating opportunities for greater contribution and impact in your field.

Moreover, by integrating AI tools that complement your expertise, you can amplify your talents and abilities, making yourself comparatively more valuable to your organisation. Importantly, early adopters don’t just gain temporary advantages—they create a capability gap that becomes increasingly difficult for late adopters to overcome. 

Developing AI skills now enables you to confidently participate in critical conversations about AI opportunities and challenges, innovate and reimagine possibilities, and effectively interpret and question AI outputs and recommendations; and when you adapt quickly, you can strategically focus on areas where your human expertise remains essential for superior results.

Finally, AI proficiency positions you to help colleagues amplify their own skills and contributions, establishing you as a valuable resource in navigating this technological transformation. The professionals most likely to thrive will be those who embrace AI as a powerful complement to their human capabilities rather than waiting until adoption becomes necessary for survival.

2. What’s the difference between the two AI courses and how do the complement each other?

The two AI courses serve distinct purposes and target different aspects of AI engagement.

Leading With AI addresses AI more broadly and is designed to equip participants with the knowledge to make informed decisions about where and how to implement AI within their organisations. This course strengthens leadership capabilities specifically for guiding AI implementation journeys and for effectively bringing team members along in the process.

In contrast, Working Smarter with AI narrows its focus to Large Language Models (LLMs), catering to individual professionals seeking to enhance their personal performance. This course concentrates on developing specific interaction techniques that improve individual productivity and performance when working with LLM technologies.

The key distinction lies in their scope and intended audience: Leading With AI takes an organisational leadership perspective on broader AI implementation, while Working Smarter with AI offers a more specialised, individually focused approach to leveraging LLMs for personal productivity gains.

3. What key takeaways can participants expect from these AI courses?

Participants in Leading with AI will gain a clear understanding of AI’s potential to enhance both human capability and organisational effectiveness. They’ll develop confidence in guiding their organisation’s AI engagement journey, starting from their current position. The course provides practical strategies for implementing AI in ways that align with organisational context and values while engaging team members in learning and experimentation.

Those who complete Working Smarter with AI will experience enhanced professional performance through effective AI utilisation for productivity, quality, and capability improvement. They’ll build a personal toolkit that enables superior performance and develop confidence in consistently creating quality outputs when working with Large Language Models. Participants will learn how to strategically combine human and AI capabilities to strengthen thinking and decision-making processes, applying these skills effectively to complex professional challenges.

4. AI is advancing rapidly, but some people are hesitant or even fearful of using it—how can professionals overcome this hesitation and adapt?

Giving yourself permission to be a beginner again can serve as a powerful first step. By removing the pressure of immediate mastery and creating space for experimentation, it frees you to follow your curiosity and this naturally leads to exploration, movement, and discovery.

A practical starting point is adopting a “small wins” strategy by committing to just one modest experiment or learning opportunity to build forward momentum. This might involve exploring a low-risk application, such as generating a first draft for a document, rather than immediately seeking AI input for critical client-facing decisions.

Another effective approach is connecting AI learning to something personally meaningful—whether that’s future career relevance, solving a persistent work problem, or achieving an important goal that matters to you. This more personal connection can provide stronger motivation for stepping in to the new.

The key with all these strategies is that they serve as entry points to the learning journey. Once you’re moving and learning, even in small ways, it becomes significantly easier to build upon that foundation and develop greater comfort and proficiency with AI tools.

5. Why invest in AI education now?

Public Sector

AI tools can help analyse complex policy environments and improve implementation strategies across multiple stakeholders; and AI education helps organisations identify where technology can maximise the impact of limited resources.

Businesses

AI capabilities are advancing quickly, creating a growing gap between organisations that understand these tools and those that don’t. This divide is particularly significant now that AI tools have become more accessible and user-friendly, making this an ideal time to begin implementation without requiring specialised technical teams. By embracing this opportunity, organisations that develop AI literacy now can establish processes and workflows before competitors, creating institutional knowledge that takes time to replicate.

Individuals

For professionals, education about AI tools allows for automation of the routine aspects of their roles, thereby creating more time for mission-focused work. This timing is critical because the gap between AI-fluent and AI-hesitant professionals is widening, and early education prevents falling behind your peers. Beyond personal productivity, professionals who understand AI capabilities can help shape how these technologies are deployed in their organisations, giving them influence over important strategic decisions.

6. What Competitive Advantages Does It Offer?

Public Sector

With AI literacy, public sector organisations can better model future scenarios and prepare for complex challenges ahead. This foresight enables AI-enabled workflows that help public agencies maintain service delivery despite staffing challenges or crisis situations. Furthermore, these AI tools can help agencies better analyse and communicate complex information to stakeholders and the public, enhancing transparency and public engagement.

Businesses

In the business environment, AI-educated teams can identify novel applications of technology that create unique market offerings and internal efficiencies. This innovation capability means companies known for AI sophistication attract forward-thinking professionals and retain those seeking growth opportunities. As a result, organisations with established AI capabilities can pivot more quickly as market conditions change, creating sustainable competitive advantage.

Individuals

On a personal level, AI-educated professionals consistently outperform peers in quality, depth, and speed of work. This performance boost occurs because 1) AI-educated professionals gain a “thought partner” that enhances problem-solving capabilities and creativity, 2) they delegate appropriate tasks to AI, meaning they can take on more strategic responsibilities that advance their careers and increase their value to the organisation.

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